Defaulted Claims

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Walker Whatley v. Dushan Zatecky

Case No.: 14-2534

Officials: FLAUM, MANION, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Defaulted Claims

Appellant did not procedurally default his claim

“Moreover, Whatley also adequately conveyed to the Indiana courts his specific vagueness objection to the statute. The courts expressly understood that Whatley was challenging the vagueness of the term “regular” in the definition of “youth program center.” Although the Indiana Court of Appeals ultimately decided the case on another issue, the court characterized the children’s activities at the church as “ancillary” and “accessory” and found that the activities were too incidental to change the character of the structure from that of a church to that of a youth program center. Words such as “ancillary,” “accessory,” and “incidental” are necessarily in contrast to “regular” uses of the structure. The Indiana Supreme Court also homed in on the import of the word “regular” in addressing Whatley’s challenge to the statute on vagueness grounds. As we noted above, the court acknowledged that the word “regular” was susceptible to multiple meanings, but nevertheless concluded that the statute provided adequate notice to avoid a vagueness challenge. The state courts were fairly apprised that Whatley was bringing a constitutional vagueness challenge to the statute, that his challenge focused on the definition of “youth program center,” and that within that definition, he was asserting the vagueness of the term “regular.” The district court therefore erred when it concluded that Whatley had defaulted his federal claims.”

Reversed and remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.